The Return of the Lost
by Aimlessly Unknown
Summary: The TARDIS and Bad Wolf give Rose a second chance.


_Summary_: The TARDIS and Bad Wolf give Rose a second chance.

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><p>Rose was warm. She was swathed in sweetness and darkness and things that she never had in her world. She basked in the kindness, in the sanctity of her makeshift escape and let the whispers that she wasn't where she should be fade away (<em>rosie, you do belong here<em> her mum once said through her tears _you belong with us_ and rose knew she was wrong). She was used to the feeling, in her new world; she was used to looking up at the stars and reaching up, only to grasp air and agony.

"Little girl, wake yourself from this. Wake and learn." The voice wasn't her Mum's, wasn't her Dad's (_i am not your father, i am much more_ he told her, this notfather of hers), wasn't Mickey's. It was a growl, a thick stirring voice that raised itself from the depths of her mind and blew through her bones.

'_I don't want to; I don't want to face tomorrow in this world_.' She crooned in her mind, diving deeper into the darkness and hiding herself there. She does not want to wake to the morning and the people and the pain and all that she never had to deal with on the TARDIS – in the freedom it provided.

The voice drifted through her once more, "You won't have to, but you must wake now."

Then there was light. A bright, blinding light that pulled her towards the world, towards the waking world; and Rose hid. Rose curled up in her mind and pulled away from the light, away from the world.

" _Our Rose, wake up, rise to meet the dawn and see what you do not fear. Wake and see Us, Our Rose_." This was a different voice – not low and prowling like a beast in the plains – this was a wraith's voice. A voice made of one thousand souls crying out with a single voice that sang and called to her soul like a siren. This was the voice of a God, of a creature above the clouds.

'_What if I hurt_?' What if she falls and hurts and aches inside because it hurts too much to breathe when she wakes? What if she cries and cannot move? What if today is the day she decides to give up? There was no alien technology in all the planets of all the universes to get her back to the Doctor.

She knows, she's looked, looked in all the books and all the vaults and all the nooks and crannies of the world – her world.

" _What if you heal_?" The voice of the Angels sang to her.

Then there was hope. Fluttering against her chest like a butterfly and whirled around, making her heart leap and her blood sing inside her veins. It felt like warmth and agony and joy within a thousand gilded cages, begging to burst free and cover her in clouds and dreams of a thousand better days.

Rose's eyes fluttered (_likehopelikelove_) open.

And she sobbed.

Air caught in her lungs, wrapping itself in her throat and preventing breath because she is not in her room. She is not curled in the white of the walls of her room, not wrapped in the pink of her covers, not settled into her prison cell (_your room, rosie, it's your room_ her mum cries out as she leaves for work and she cannot answer because her room is on the ship that isn't coming back). She is in MedBay on the ship. On the TARDIS.

Home.

Finally, after all these years – all this time, Rose Tyler is home.

She is elated, for three brief moments, she is euphoric and laughing and sobbing and can't breathe for all the happiness choking her lungs. But she can never seen her mother (_she'smydaughter_), never see her father (_don'tcallmethat_), never see Mickey (_whothehellisjumpingjackflash_), never see her baby brother (_wosiewosiewosie_!). She is without family.

" _We are your family, Our Rose_." The wraith's voice plagued her ears and whispered lullabies to the air. Rose cocooned herself in the warmth of the voice.

In her home.

"Now you must learn." The beast's voice crooned and something inside of her exploded. Something sharp and painful and golden and ice and she cannot scream for the ache in her bones and agony in her skin, spreading like webs behind her eyes, freezes her lungs.

And she burned.

Burned like a thousand suns crammed into her small frame and there was an echo of a laugh in the back of her mind, a laugh and a growl, something of a cheer. Elation at her pain and she wanted to hurl angry words at them and _makeitallstop_ but she can't and that hurts far too much to put into words.

Then it stops. It's gone. Evaporated like rain on the ground and there is only the clean smell of fresh air and the warmth that exudes from the sun. She feels the warmth and feels something inside of her fortify itself ("_ Now you must do as beasts do and hold_." The TARDIS warned and rescinded itself out of Rose and the Bad Wolf growled in agreement).

Moments later the Doctor skidded into the room, eyes wide and body poised for attack. And he stopped. Because there was Rose. Standing right there in front of him. But he was familiar with this dream and he knows how it goes.

She will smile at him and say, _' I'm back_' and for a moment he will be happy and warm and thank the Universe for being, for once, kind to the alien who lost everything twice. But then she will sink into the ground and he will reach for her, losing her once again, and he will awaken just as alone as before.

But Rose was not smiling. She was crying. Sobbing even and she launched herself at him. Her body slammed against his and he wanted to recoil against her almost as much as he wanted to hold her tightly and never let her go.

And she is whispering his name over and over again. Not _DoctorDoctorDoctor_ but his real name, his Gallifreyan name. His true name.

And he knew that this truly was her. Truly Rose, forever Rose, in his arms right here, right now, and he will _never_ let her go.

Even if a thousand Voids open, even if one million Reapers rip apart the timelines, even if Torchwood storms his doors and blazes in with guns and alien technology, and _especially_ if some handsome alien bloke tries to take Rose as his bride.

He pushed her away for a moment, just long enough for her to be seized by terror (_he'smovedonofcourseyoustupidgirl_), only to look her deep in her eyes and whisper, "Rose Tyler, I love you."

And she kissed him. Yanked him down by his collars and pressed her lips against his and they stayed like that for not nearly long enough.

The next day he will run tests on her, he will ask _how_ and _when_ and _what_ and she will not know the answer but will tell him about the voices and the TARDIS will explain to both of them and he will leap for joy and wrap her in his arms and spinspinspin because she is here and now she can promise forever all she wants and they will not fear the end because she is as eternal as he is.

And they will go off into forever, together.

But now he just wanted her in his bed, in his arms, and he wanted to make slow, sweet love to her and tell her how much she means to him.

And, by Rassilon, the Universe can just try to stop him from doing just that.

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><p>" <em>We have done it, Beast, We have saved Our Child." <em>The TARDIS and the Bad Wolf meet again in the console room.

The Bad Wolf grinned, safe in the skin of Rose, "Your Doctor seemed appreciative of My Rose's return, seemed very appreciative indeed, Entity."

" _Do not soil his happiness with your allusions, Beast." _The ship warned, but smiled anyway, shifting the Doctor's muscles inside his skin and close to preening.

The Bad Wolf laughed, "Imagine, Entity, they have forever all because of us."

" _Not that They will know, Beast. Let them enjoy their forever without Our interference." _The ship hummed, glowing brightly in the console room, making the Doctor's smile seem brighter.

"Very well, Entity. Perhaps we ought to adjourn them to bed, before your daytime cycle begins." The Bad Wolf suggested and the ship agreed as they send their vessels off to bed – the same bed – and both are warmed by how things have changed.

And thus the Entity, the Beast, and the Doctor bask in the return of the once lost Rose.

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><p>And our journey ends here, my friends! Review and tell me what you thought :)<p>

Aimlessly Unknown.


End file.
